premiere – benjamin shaw

benjamin shaw has been making bedroom pop for much longer than the term has enjoyed a certain ubiquity. a chameleon of genres, the melbourne-based shaw has drifted through washes of shoegaze and fields of electronica, melding dissonant drones and folk affectations into an incredibly singular and raw brand of confessional music, its ennui palpable. shaw’s latest album, megadead, marks a return to work that is decidedly more vocal-centric, although certainly not devoid of the desolate soundscapes he’s wont to create and inhabit.

after the release of “terrible feelings!” last week, a track that atwood magazine aptly described as “visceral and frantic,” shaw has down-shifted into the more ruminative “a brand new day,” a six-minute odyssey populated by found sounds and a lovely guitar loop. a lengthy voyage through the track’s aural architecture leads shaw to its precipice, where, instead of a steep drop into the void, he’s treated to a sonic sunrise of soaring brass, a moment of respite that arguably marks the true arrival of “a brand new day” and informs its final stages.

megadead is due august 31st via audio antihero and kirigirisu recordings. listen to “a brand new day,” premiering right here on the dimestore, below.